The invention relates to a method for weighing and labeling packages of goods according to which each package is supplied to an electronic scale that is connected to an electronic analyzer, which contains a computer, by means of which the weight of the package is determined and the associated price is calculated, whereby the package is conveyed further on the scale and after the weighing process it is supplied to a labeling system that is controlled by the computer for printing a label and applying the label to the package, whereafter the package is withdrawn as well as an apparatus for carrying out this method according to which the load carrying mechanism of the electronic scale is embodied as a conveyor belt, whereby the apparatus further includes a supply means and a withdrawal means for the packages as well as the labeling system that is controlled by the computer.
Methods and apparatus of this type are known. The known methods are carried out by means of relatively complicated apparatus and serve, for example, for weighing packaged goods arriving within a transport line or after a packaging machine, and for labeling the price. The known apparatus are therefore relatively expensive because in general a plurality of conveyor belts are required in order to separate the weighing process from the labeling process. Up to now this seemed necessary due to the fact that during labeling on the scale considerable problems arose. Due to the pressure loading of the scale that occurred during the labeling, especially when the labeling is to occur rapidly and correspondingly severe impacts act upon the scales, the scales undergo damage over time. Such damage can be manifested by a decrease in the precision of the scale or that when relieved of load it never fully returns to zero. Furthermore, the vibrations of the scale that result during the labeling have an aftereffect for a certain period of time. Since the scales must mechanically and electrically come to rest prior to the next weighing process, the number of weighings that can be carried out per minute are limited.
The object of the present invention is to develop a method and well as an apparatus of the aforementioned type in such a way that with a very compact, economical and technically uncomplicated construction of the apparatus, the weighing process can be carried out rapidly and with the required precision.